It is not unusual for a bed-ridden person lying either on a fitted or non-fitted sheet to gradually slide toward the foot of the bed. This is common in either a hospital or home setting, with a sick or substantially immobile patient lying in a bed. Patients frequently need to have the upper portion of the body elevated for therapeutic reasons, such as to reduce intracranial pressure, or to allow the patient to breathe more easily. When they slide down in bed, their position becomes less therapeutic and needs to be corrected. The problem is increased as the head of the bed is raised higher for the patient therapy, and during the latter stages of a patient's recovery when there are more occasions to sit up; i.e. the higher the head is raised and the more frequently it is done, the more the patient tends to slide.
The patient eventually experiences discomfort as the patient's legs become cramped against the foot guard of the bed. Furthermore, discomfort can be experienced simply due to the angle of the head of bed in relation to the foot no longer corresponding to the bending of the body at the hips. In effect, the patient's torso curves between spaced support points at the shoulders and the hips. This slumping of the patient cramps the lungs and other internal organs.
In these situations, the repositioning of the sheet upon which the patient is lying requires (1) a staff person to briefly lift and temporarily remove the patient from the bed, or (2) to physically grab hold and pull the sheet with the patient lying thereon, and pull the patient up in the bed to the desired position. It can be appreciated that these manual efforts require substantial strength. Normally, as a practical matter, two or more strong people are required to perform this function. In addition, such efforts subject the staff persons to a moderate risk of injury, as well as subjecting the patient to the considerable discomfort, as described. As one staff person can safely roll most patients, it would be particularly desirable to allow the same person, in many instances, to also move a patient up in the bed.
Generally, all hospitals, as well as many home care situations, use adjustable patient beds. Most of these beds are capable of dual position adjustments. More specifically, the bed mattress is received on a support platform that can be (1) vertically raised and lowered, and (2) pivoted about a lateral axis near the midpoint of its longitudinal dimension; that is, in the area of the patient's hips. This allows the height of the bed to be adjusted, and not only the head to be independently elevated, but also the foot of the bed to be elevated, if desired.
The support platform and mattress cooperate with a movable frame. The movable frame is attached to a base that is generally supported on the floor. The movable frame and base, and the support platform and the frame, cooperate to move with respect to each other through linkage arrangements including pivotable lever arms and cranks. The operation of the lever arms and the cranks powered by an electric motor causes the frame and the platform to be raised and lowered relative to the base, and the platform to bend at the hip line. Accordingly, both the elevation of the platform/mattress relative to the floor and the height and angle of the head of the bed relative to the foot of the bed, can be adjusted.
Considering this background, a simple assembly and method is needed to allow the patient to be pulled up in the bed while minimizing the strain on the staff persons, or home caregivers. It is contemplated that the new assembly and method take advantage of the adjustable nature of the bed to perform a position adjustment of the sheet, and thus remove most of the physical work involved. The assembly is contemplated as utilizing a modified sheet that is connected to the adjustable bed. Such an assembly would be easy to use and clean, and represent a cost efficient solution to the recognized difficulty that now exists. Such an assembly also would allow many patients, who now are in nursing homes, to be cared for at home by one caregiver of normal or limited strength.